Goodbye Until We Meet Again
by carpemermaid
Summary: Tonks thought that Meet Cute was something that was only heard of in the movies. Her life was only full of Meet Ugly. It worked out for the best, anyway. [Non-Magic AU]


_Notes:_ Written for Femslash February and nooreva's HP Femslash Bingo. Unbeta'd, all mistakes are my own. Prompt used: AU: Meet Ugly.

I sadly do not speak French, so everything is via Google translate. If you speak French and have a correction for me, please feel free to shoot me a message so I can fix anything for better accuracy! Thanks to khalulu for pointing out some fixes for me!

 _Au revoir_ \- Goodbye until we meet again  
 _Tu es la plus belle de toutes les fleurs_ \- You are the most beautiful of all flowers  
 _C'est trop mignon_ \- This is so cute  
 _ma chérie_ \- my darling

* * *

Tonks was running late, as usual. She swore up and down as she hurried through the gleaming halls of the office building where she worked, rushing towards the break room with every intention of making a cuppa before slinking (see: tripping, probably) to her desk to hide from her boss, Mr Shacklebolt. She already had her answer ready for him when he questioned where she'd been.

 _Wotcher, sir. I've just been off for a coffee. Got in extra early today, lots of paperwork to be filled out, you know._

She was sure she could pull off her doe eyed look well enough that he'd believe her. Tonks' mother always did say she had a way of transforming her face to suit her needs. It had worked when she got the job, despite her bubblegum pink hair, at least.

As she swooped into the employee break room she stumbled, her feet tangling together clumsily, and she crashed gracelessly into someone. They slumped to the floor in a heap together, both shrieking in surprised pain as hot coffee spilled across their legs.

It took some maneuvering and struggling, but Tonks managed to pull herself up to a kneeling position, apologies already spilling from her lips in a jumble of words.

"Oh, god, I am so sorry! I am the biggest clumsy tit — Christ, here let me help you up. I can't believe I don't listen to my mum more when she tells me to look where I'm—"

Tonks' babbling trailed off abruptly when she saw exactly whom she'd run into. It was Miss Delacour, the impossibly pretty blonde that Tonks had been eyeing from afar since she had been hired last month. She sucked in a little gasp as guilt washed over her.

"Fleur — ah, Miss Delacour, that is, gosh, I'm so very sorry. Please, let me get you a fresh cup of coffee, and some napkins," Tonks said as she scrambled to a standing position on wobbly legs. She reached down and tugged Fleur to a standing position, pulling on her hand a bit enthusiastically, so that Fleur bumped into her with the momentum.

"Oh," Fleur gasped as she clung to Tonks' denim jacket.

When she had her balance again she quickly stepped back, watching Tonks with narrowed blue eyes. Tonks looked down and saw that the coffee was seeping into Fleur's smart trousers and her blouse. She glanced down at her own outfit and half-heartedly swiped at the murky stain splattered across her tartan skirt and tights. She felt woefully underdressed standing next to Fleur, who was strikingly gorgeous and looked far more professional and at home in the office than Tonks had ever felt. She much preferred when she was allowed to go out and canvas the streets of London.

"Er, that's a very nice blouse. I'm really sorry if I've ruined it. I can see if my mum can get the stains out for you. I'm not much for household type things, but she has always been able to work her magic on anything I ever bollocks up," Tonks said in entreaty.

Fleur just raised a pale, sculpted eyebrow at her. "You are very talkative," she murmured in accented English.

 _Bloody buggering tits,_ Tonks thought, remembering. _Forgot she was French. God, that's hot, innit._

Tonks smiled weakly at Fleur and sidestepped her in favour of the coffee maker. She carefully went through the steps of making two cups to avoid any further catastrophes, and soaked a napkin in cold water.

"Here," she said, offering the wet cloth to Fleur. "And I'll get you a dry one, too. The ladies' powder room on the third floor has one of those fancy dryers that whip the water off your hands in seconds. I've seen some birds using it to dry their clothes before."

Tonks cringed, inwardly scolding herself for running her mouth, especially after Fleur had specifically pointed out how much she spoke. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Mr Shacklebolt making a sweep of the network of cubicles and her eyes widened in panic.

"Bugger," she muttered under her breath, turning to smile brightly at Fleur. "Well, this was a terrible way to officially make your acquaintance. I apologise again for my clumsiness. Ta!"

Without waiting for an answer from Fleur, Tonks prowled the outer walls of the cubicles. She quickly worked her way through the maze to her desk before Mr Shacklebolt got to her section. With frantic tapping on the keyboard, she brought up what she had been working on at the end of yesterday before he could see that she was idle. Mr Shacklebolt simply raised a stoic eyebrow at her as he walked by.

Tonks settled in to work, sipping at her coffee, and regretting her life as a haphazard cyclone of a human for getting in the way of her work crush. She was sure Fleur was never going to speak to her again.

Except, on Wednesday that week, as Tonks was completing her morning ritual of diving into the break room before Mr Shacklebolt noticed her perpetually late arse, Fleur was there. She smirked at Tonks as she panted, woefully out of breath from running up the stairs when she needed to avoid the elevator, and _waved_ at her. _What the hell?_ Tonks was sure she was hallucinating.

"Good morning, Ms Tonks," Fleur greeted.

Hearing her lilting accent sent Tonks tripping over her own feet as she shrugged her drooping oversized cardigan higher up on her shoulder. By some miracle, she made it over to the coffee maker, avoiding landing flat on her face.

"Er, 'lo," Tonks parroted, clamping her lips shut to keep herself from running her mouth.

She heard a melodic giggle behind her, and when she looked over her shoulder she was treated to the sight of Fleur hiding a grin behind her delicate fingers. Tonks stared at her for the space of several heartbeats, struck by her beauty. Fleur was in a pale shade of blue that complimented her eyes and her milky skin. Her silvery-blonde hair was piled into a prim bun on top of her head. The morning light made her look like she was glowing as she sat at the table by the window, sipping a steaming cup of tea.

Tonks' heart thudded in her chest, and her limbs felt tingly.

"Won't ze boss notice if you are not at your cubicle yet?"

Fleur hid a knowing smile behind the rim of her mug.

"Right," Tonks blurted. "Right, er, see you."

" _Au revoir_ ," Fleur murmured with a graceful wave.

Tonks had to sit at her desk and take several gulping breaths before she was able to calm her rapid pulse.

 _Until we meet again_ , she thought with a wild grin.

Tonks had come to the conclusion that Fleur most definitely did not hate her for accidentally knocking her to the ground and spilling coffee on her when they first met.

In the span of two weeks, Fleur was always in the break room when Tonks arrived, and she started stopping by her cubicle, too. She would leave little origami flowers on Tonks' desk after a brief, friendly conversation.

Fleur was the epitome of everything Tonks wasn't. She was poised and graceful, put together, and well spoken in a way that Tonks lacked because she always leapt before she looked in all things in life.

Tonks carefully saved each of the origami flowers, bringing them home and decorating her flat with them. By the time she had a swirling design blooming on her wall beside her bed, two months had gone by and she wanted _more_. She wanted to see Fleur outside of work, and wanted to see her beauty in all of her favourite spots around the city. Her resolve was determined each morning when she went into work, intent on asking Fleur to join her for a lunch outside of the office building.

It still took her three days before she managed to say it without getting tongue-tied, much to Fleur's apparent amusement.

After much internal debate, Tonks decided to take Fleur to her favourite hidden park.

It was still a little early in the season for all of the flowers to be in full bloom, but there was a tree that was blossoming. Fleur's face lit up as they walked over to it and sat down on a blanket she had brought. Tonks usually liked to just flop down on the grass; her mum was always a magic worker when it came to getting the grass stains out of her clothes.

She stretched out on her side and propped her head up on an elbow. "I found this park when I had an assignment nearby. It's great, since it's so close to the office."

"Mm," Fleur hummed, her eyes still glued to the flowers on the branches overhead that were swaying in the breeze.

Tonks took the opportunity to study Fleur's beautiful profile, her eyes drifting over her adorable button nose and her pink lips. Tonks wondered what it would be like to steal a quick kiss, but she didn't want to do anything to shake their new friendship.

A stronger wind shook some of the flowers free, and they floated down around them. One landed right on Fleur's head, and Tonks had never seen a sight more gorgeous. She reached up and tucked the flower behind Fleur's ear.

"Perfect," she whispered.

Fleur's smile was radiant, and when it was focused on Tonks it made her light up inside, too. Her heart did a happy somersault.

"We 'ave to find one for you, too!"

Fleur's eyes darted around the vicinity until they landed on the bold, pink geraniums blooming proudly in the back corner of the park.

"Ah, wonderful! Be back in a moment."

Fleur moved quickly and fluidly in a way that Tonks would never be able to mimic. She returned to the blanket and wove two plucked geraniums into the twin buns Tonks was wearing on either side of her head. She grinned down at her and nodded in satisfaction.

" _Tu es la plus belle de toutes les fleurs_ ," Fleur said.

Tonks didn't know what that meant, but it sounded amazing coming from Fleur.

Their lunches out of the office became a fast ritual, and every time Tonks would show Fleur a new favourite spot. Soon they had half of central London mapped out. She felt giddy whenever she spent time with Fleur, basking in her soft laughter and the way their hands always brushed together. The first time Fleur had visited her flat for brunch over the weekend, she had spotted the origami flowers Tonks had squirreled away, and she spent the entire afternoon with a pleased smile and a rosy blush. Tonks was so excited to see Fleur every day that she even started managing to make it to work on time, even early on some occasions — anything to get just a few more minutes with the girl she was quickly falling for.

Part of her worried about what would happen if she ever slipped up and held Fleur's hand, or said something too forward. She didn't want to scare her friend away. Tonks had to content herself with their relationship, no matter how much she wanted to press Fleur into the nearest flat surface and snog her silly.

Fleur was gesturing as she spoke while they walked along the Thames with steaming cardboard cups of tea. It was a habit she was picking up from Tonks. Her thick accent was soothing, and it made her smile wryly. Sometimes she felt like she was the only one who understood Fleur. Even their boss sometimes had a hard time working out what she was saying when she switched back and forth between languages at the office.

Tonks stopped when she realised Fleur's hand was on her arm. She had a look in her glittering blue eyes that Tonks couldn't quite read. Fleur took their empty cups and tossed them into a nearby rubbish bin. There was a distinct change in the atmosphere between them.

"Fleur?"

"I 'ave finally come up with an acceptable payback for your silly antics with the spilled coffee," Fleur stated triumphantly.

"Oh?" Tonks asked, dread settling like lead in her stomach. The happy bubble of their afternoon was about to burst.

She twisted her fingers into her jumper. This was it; Fleur was going to tell her they couldn't be friends anymore. She took a deep breath, bracing for the heartbreak that was about to come.

"I want a kiss," Fleur murmured, her words cutting through Tonks' frantic thoughts. "I am tired of dancing around it, and so this is the best I can think of to get what I want."

"I — what?" Tonks was dumbfounded, her mind still stuck halfway to accepting rejection from Fleur. "You… you wha—?"

Fleur giggled at her, stepping closer and running her soft fingertips over Tonks' cheeks. "I love it when you get all flustered. _C'est trop mignon_!"

Tonks flushed under Fleur's attention, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed by the flowery scent of her expensive perfume and the way her voice sounded when she spoke in her native language. Her knees felt weak and she swayed towards Fleur.

"Ah, _ma chérie_ , do not wilt like a flower," Fleur chided in an amused tone.

She steadied Tonks with a hand on her hip, her fingers idly stroking to calm Tonks. Her other hand cupped her cheek as she leaned closer and gently pressed their lips together. Tonks let out a weak sound and kissed her back immediately, shooting forward with her whole body and nearly knocked Fleur over.

Fleur laughed into their kiss, and as she parted her lips Tonks swiped her tongue out to taste the luscious lips that had been haunting her dreams. Fleur's tongue slid against her own as their kiss deepened. Her hand slid back and into Tonks' pink hair, tugging at the shorter hairs at the back of her bob to angle her head for better leverage. Tonks took that as permission to let her own hands explore how she pleased. She walked her fingers over Fleur's waist, one hand dipping down to caress the curve of her hip and the other moving up and stroking over the back of her neck. Fleur hummed in pleasure, pressing even closer so that they were almost melding into one being.

Tonks broke off from their kiss, panting and feeling a flush prickling at her cheeks. She felt warmth flooding her whole body. Fleur looked equally disheveled, and it was something new and exciting for Tonks. She was used to seeing Fleur look prim and proper — put together. It was an exhilarating change to be allowed to see her look even more perfect with her cheeks blushing prettily and her hair slipping from her ponytail.

Tonks reached up and pulled her silvery-blonde locks free from the tie, her gaze glued to the way her hair tumbled down to her shoulders in a shining cloud. She ran her fingers carefully through her silken hair, curling it around her fingers in intricate patterns and reveling in the fact that she was allowed to touch Fleur when she had been longing to do so for such a long time.

"You don't 'ave to stop at just one kiss, you know," Fleur commented, her eyes sparkling with uncharted mischief.

Tonks liked this new, undiscovered side of Fleur more and more.

"Yeah? Well, that's good, because I'd very much like to kiss you again," Tonks murmured as she stepped closer to steal another kiss. She had a vivid vision of peeling off Fleur's perfectly put together outfits and revealing more of her porcelain skin while she lay like a flower blooming in Tonks' bed.

Fleur's lips curled into a delighted smile that Tonks wanted to taste until she couldn't tell either of them apart.

Her world felt like it had just opened up with so much possibility, and her heart felt ready to burst from the sheer joy of kissing Fleur Delacour next to the Thames with other Londoners walking by.


End file.
